Cavaliers rookie power forward Anthony Bennett is having the worst statistical season of any overall #1 pick. Basketball-Reference.com released an image of the PERs (Player Efficiency Rating) of all #1 draft picks over the past 24 seasons to give us some perspective on how bad Bennett is playing. What the image showed was that Bennett's PER is 1.1 and Kwame Brown (considered by many to be the worst #1 pick of all-time) had a PER of 11.2 during his rookie season. With these kinds of numbers, many basketball analysts are already saying that Anthony Bennett is the worst #1 overall pick of all time and thus the greatest bust of any #1 overall pick. While I agree that he very well may be the worst #1 overall pick of all time, I don't think it is fair to call him a "bust". What I will do is explain why Anthony Bennett isn't a "bust", but rather the victim of a horrible decision made by the Cavaliers' front office.
Before I explain why Bennett isn't a bust, I should probably first define what "bust" means. "Bust" is a word used to define a player who fails to live up to his or her expectations, with those expectations usually being lofty. Players who are expected to be franchise changing players and fail to live up to those expectations are usually the players who are categorized as "busts" due to their high expectations. Players under this category are Greg Oden, Shawn Bradley, and sadly Len Bias. To use examples from the NFL, Quarterbacks JaMarcus Russell of the Raiders and Ryan Leaf of the Chargers meet this criteria as well. These are guys who were drafted with tremendous hype from not only the teams that drafted them, but all of the media and analysts. These were players who were "can't miss" players who were sure to turn around their franchises in a very short period of time. These were guys expected to turn their respective franchises into championship caliber teams.
With this definition now in mind, it suddenly doesn't seem as though Anthony Bennett really is a bust. As a matter of fact, he isn't even in the discussion. Bennett being drafted #1 overall and failing to deliver isn't the same as being hyped by all the media as the second coming of Karl Malone and failing to deliver. If Bennett had been viewed by all of the media and draft analysts as this "can't miss player" like another Karl Malone, then he would certainly be a "bust". But he wasn't. As a matter of fact, he was a viewed a borderline top ten pick in a weak NBA draft.
In my mock draft (not that I'm a draft expert), I had Bennett going #10 overall to the Portland Trail Blazers. In other mock drafts, I saw him going anywhere from 5 to 10. When he went #1 overall, everybody was shocked and couldn't believe it. Certainly Nerlens Noel, Alex Len, or Victor Oladipo would go #1 overall. But no, the Cavaliers instead decided to role the dice on Bennet, which up to this point has blown up in their face. To make things worse, Bennett is suddenly being compared to all #1 overall picks ever taken when he shouldn't even be in the same conversation as them. But being picked #1 overall suddenly has his name being brought up in conversations that include LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing, and Hakeem Olajuwon. Among #1 picks that didn't pan out, he's suddenly the new Kwame Brown or Michael Olowokandi.
Those of us in sports media world need to be careful how we view Bennett's struggles as a #1 overall pick. Rather than focusing all of our energy and attention on him, we need to instead focus our attention on the Cleveland Cavaliers and their moronic front office. Specifically their general manager Chris Grant and owner Dan Gilbert. These guys need to take all the heat and blame for drafting a kid #1 overall when the rest of the basketball world didn't feel as though he was that kind of talent. If the Cavaliers really wanted him, why didn't they trade down to get him and get more picks? By drafting him #1 overall they had to know that there would be a ton of hype on him that wasn't warranted, making this selection an incredibly horrible PR move in addition to being a stupid basketball decision. The story of Bennett's struggles as a #1 overall pick shouldn't be treated as a #1 overall pick failing to deliver. It should rather be treated as a front office failing to show competence at properly evaluating NBA talent.
---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord for the latest NBA news.
great blog, nba lord! cavs drafting bennett never made much sense in the beginning because they have TT. the thing with bennett is that he needs to get his confidence back. he played well in the preseason because he had no pressure, once the regular season rolls around, however, he is being compared to all time greats and has tremendous amount of pressure to deal with. just give bennett some time and be patient with him cuz he needs to take time to develop his confidence back, once he do that, he should post 20 and 10 every game
ReplyDeleteGreat article! Spot on analysis! I wrote an article similar to this on my blog, and it's great to see someone else with similar views on Bennett.
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